PV Sindhu confident after Olympic silver, will look to play freely in future events

Mumbai: Set to return to the international circuit at the Denmark Open, ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu on Friday said winning the silver medal at Rio Olympics has given her a lot of confidence and she would look to play without any pressure in the upcoming events.

File photo of PV Sindhu. Reuters

"My life has changed a lot after the Olympics and I am very happy for the silver medal," Sindhu told reporters on the sidelines of a programme where she along with chief national badminton coach Pulella Gopichand launched 'Ojasvita Malt', a beverage of Sri Sri Ayurveda in Mumbai.

"I have started my practice already and preparing for the Denmark Open and French Open in Paris. We are leaving tomorrow and I wish I would give my best and play my game.

"It has given me a lot of confidence and with the same confidence I hope I would go further. After the silver medal, it really gave me a lot of confidence," said Sindhu, who had lost to Spain's Carolina Marin in the finals of the Rio Olympics to settle for silver.

The 21-year-old from Hyderabad said she is aware of her responsibilities and will look to give cent per cent in the upcoming events.

"Responsibilities will always be high from now on. Everybody's eyes are going to be on me. It's just that I shouldn't take much of pressure and play my game. I just want to go to the court and give my 100 percent," she said.

"Well it (winning the medal) didn't sink in for a long of time, now it has a bit. I have been preparing for coming tournaments and preparation wise everything is good," added the two-time World Championship bronze medallist.

After the Olympics, Sindhu had to attend a series of felicitation programmes across the country.

Asked how did she cope up with felicitations, Sindhu said, "It was nothing like distraction, it is nice of people who have been affectionate and shown so much of love. It was really great," she added.

Sindhu along with Dipa Karmakar and Sakshi Malik were presented a BMW by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar but the Tripura gymnast decided to return it as she was finding it difficult to maintain the car.

Asked about Karmakar returning the BMW, Sindhu said, "It is not a problem for me. But for her (Dipa) the roads in (Agartala) and everything is difficult and she couldn't manage and so had to return the car."